Miscellaneous Movie Musings

innerSpaceman · 11-15-2007, 01:37 PM

(Third and Final Part)

6) Later, when Roy is tearing down all the news clippings and Star Trek models, there’s an insert shot of the Pinocchio musical figurine and strains of its music-box rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" on the soundtrack that were not in the original film. It was sheer laziness to not restore this to the original version. A small but irksome difference.

7) There is some missing footage when Roy, Gillian and Larry escape from the military helicopter. The "trim" footage added back-in on this new DVD release is almost certainly not the footage removed from the original cut back in 1980. A small difference made bothersome by the clumsy effort to restore it.

8) Just before we see that Roy Neary has been suited-up in red astronaut garb, joining the end of the queue of hopeful Mothership passengers ... a new series of shots featuring an astronaut "prayer meeting" were inserted in the 1980 Special Edition, and have never been removed. As the musical score does not appear to have been altered, there must be a significant amount of missing footage at this vital part of the film ... which now practically "gives away" the Roy Neary ending a few seconds too early.

This segment is 17 seconds long! That’s a lot of missing footage. In the original version, the astronauts were kept way more in the background ... so that Roy leaving on the Mothership might be a surprise. We never see them in their astronaut uniforms until a second or two before we saw Roy as a new member of that group ... and thus we didn’t really know they’re astronauts at all when we saw them in the background of a couple other scenes. This 17 second gap at the movie’s finale is a Big Difference.

9) Though the really lame and stupid Inside the Mothership scene has been edited out of both the Directors’ Cut and all restoration attempts, the original music editing has been lost and all re-mix attempts have been surprisingly poor. The new DVD has the best re-mix yet, but it’s not the original mix. A very minor difference.

10) Finally, the effects shots behind the end credits were switched around for the 1980 Special Edition, and have never been restored to their original 1977 order. In the original, the first credits (Speilberg’s and others) were displayed over close-up shots of Mothership detail, and the progression was from a series of close-ups to full-shots of the gargantuan spaceseship, to a far away view of the UFO, and then a blank starfield.
The revised credits start with the full-shots of the ship, then progress to the series of close-ups, and only then to the far shot and the starfield.

As one who claimed the biggest problem with the also-1977-maimed Star Wars opening crawl was that it no longer properly matched the brilliant John Williams music that was scored to match it, I certainly contend the same holds true for the Close Encounters ending. Williams scored the film to match the visuals ... and when the visuals changed, the score no longer had as eloquent an effect. This is a pretty big difference in my book - - and failure to restore it was just plain laziness and inexcusable error.

Yes, the Directors Cut and now this new DVD restore many of the elements of the 1977 original from the ill-conceived Special Edition. But it’s NOT the 1977 original and it’s just another corporate LIE to claim it is.

The picture quality is remarkably restored in some sections of the film and curiously poor in others. An uneven attempt at visual quality.

All-in-all, I cannot recommend this set ... unless, well, you want to get a fairly reasonable semblance of the 1977 original version of Close Encounters on DVD. It’s a shame to have to pay for the absolutely retarded Special Edition and previously-available Director’s Cut just to get this falsely billed facsimile of the original version.

But - sigh - this is the version I will be watching from now on. And I’ll be cringing at times. In fact, there are parts that are so uncomfortable to me that I may end up continuing to avoid one of my favorite moves of all time.

There’s a scene where Roy runs outside in frustration and shouts to the night skies, "What Is It?!?!" - and then he goes back inside and maniacally starts throwing globs of clay and carving deep gashes in his mini-mountain, all the while fuming, "That’s not right, that’s not right" as the music swells. It gets to me in a very unpleasant way. Because this movie has been so negligently tampered with, with important scenes seemingly lost to time as if it were the most unimportant of films, I have become obsessed with it in a way that vaguely mirrors Roy Neary’s obsession at that moment in the movie. And when he manhandles the mountain that’s been mostly cut out of the movie, shouting, "That’s not right" - that’s exactly what I’m shouting inside my head.

Watching Close Encounters is a bittersweet experience for me. Buy the DVD if you want As-Close-As-You-Can-Get. But be aware it’s all a Big Fat Lie.

.

11-15-2007, 01:37 PM	#11
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	(Third and Final Part) 6) Later, when Roy is tearing down all the news clippings and Star Trek models, there’s an insert shot of the Pinocchio musical figurine and strains of its music-box rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" on the soundtrack that were not in the original film. It was sheer laziness to not restore this to the original version. A small but irksome difference. 7) There is some missing footage when Roy, Gillian and Larry escape from the military helicopter. The "trim" footage added back-in on this new DVD release is almost certainly not the footage removed from the original cut back in 1980. A small difference made bothersome by the clumsy effort to restore it. 8) Just before we see that Roy Neary has been suited-up in red astronaut garb, joining the end of the queue of hopeful Mothership passengers ... a new series of shots featuring an astronaut "prayer meeting" were inserted in the 1980 Special Edition, and have never been removed. As the musical score does not appear to have been altered, there must be a significant amount of missing footage at this vital part of the film ... which now practically "gives away" the Roy Neary ending a few seconds too early. This segment is 17 seconds long! That’s a lot of missing footage. In the original version, the astronauts were kept way more in the background ... so that Roy leaving on the Mothership might be a surprise. We never see them in their astronaut uniforms until a second or two before we saw Roy as a new member of that group ... and thus we didn’t really know they’re astronauts at all when we saw them in the background of a couple other scenes. This 17 second gap at the movie’s finale is a Big Difference. 9) Though the really lame and stupid Inside the Mothership scene has been edited out of both the Directors’ Cut and all restoration attempts, the original music editing has been lost and all re-mix attempts have been surprisingly poor. The new DVD has the best re-mix yet, but it’s not the original mix. A very minor difference. 10) Finally, the effects shots behind the end credits were switched around for the 1980 Special Edition, and have never been restored to their original 1977 order. In the original, the first credits (Speilberg’s and others) were displayed over close-up shots of Mothership detail, and the progression was from a series of close-ups to full-shots of the gargantuan spaceseship, to a far away view of the UFO, and then a blank starfield. The revised credits start with the full-shots of the ship, then progress to the series of close-ups, and only then to the far shot and the starfield. As one who claimed the biggest problem with the also-1977-maimed Star Wars opening crawl was that it no longer properly matched the brilliant John Williams music that was scored to match it, I certainly contend the same holds true for the Close Encounters ending. Williams scored the film to match the visuals ... and when the visuals changed, the score no longer had as eloquent an effect. This is a pretty big difference in my book - - and failure to restore it was just plain laziness and inexcusable error. Yes, the Directors Cut and now this new DVD restore many of the elements of the 1977 original from the ill-conceived Special Edition. But it’s NOT the 1977 original and it’s just another corporate LIE to claim it is. The picture quality is remarkably restored in some sections of the film and curiously poor in others. An uneven attempt at visual quality. All-in-all, I cannot recommend this set ... unless, well, you want to get a fairly reasonable semblance of the 1977 original version of Close Encounters on DVD. It’s a shame to have to pay for the absolutely retarded Special Edition and previously-available Director’s Cut just to get this falsely billed facsimile of the original version. But - sigh - this is the version I will be watching from now on. And I’ll be cringing at times. In fact, there are parts that are so uncomfortable to me that I may end up continuing to avoid one of my favorite moves of all time. There’s a scene where Roy runs outside in frustration and shouts to the night skies, "What Is It?!?!" - and then he goes back inside and maniacally starts throwing globs of clay and carving deep gashes in his mini-mountain, all the while fuming, "That’s not right, that’s not right" as the music swells. It gets to me in a very unpleasant way. Because this movie has been so negligently tampered with, with important scenes seemingly lost to time as if it were the most unimportant of films, I have become obsessed with it in a way that vaguely mirrors Roy Neary’s obsession at that moment in the movie. And when he manhandles the mountain that’s been mostly cut out of the movie, shouting, "That’s not right" - that’s exactly what I’m shouting inside my head. Watching Close Encounters is a bittersweet experience for me. Buy the DVD if you want As-Close-As-You-Can-Get. But be aware it’s all a Big Fat Lie. . Last edited by innerSpaceman : 11-15-2007 at 01:52 PM.
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